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Self-Care Day: Creativity!
Self-Care Day is on the 24th of July and represents how there's always time in the day to look after ourselves... 24/7 😄There is often a cliché of self care being bath bombs, face masks, or a well-deserved nap. But there’s another way you can nurture your mental health and overall wellness — being creative!
What makes creativity special?
Creativity encourages us to be in the moment
Mindfulness involves being present without judging yourself or what’s happening around you. If traditional mindfulness exercises like meditation are tough for you, being creative is a great alternative. Creativity allows you to slow down and get into a ‘flow’ state, where you’re just paying attention to what’s in front of you and being with yourself.
Creativity allows for self-expression and release
Creativity not only allows self-reflection, but also allows you to express your internal world. Arts and music can be a healthy outlet for processing and letting go of difficult feelings.
Creativity helps you manage stress
Studies show that creativity can help with anxiety, stress and negative mood. Being creative can release the feel-good hormone dopamine, which is why it feels so rewarding!
Creativity is fun
Being creative is not only good for developing skills that you may not know you have, but it’s something you can look forward to 🎨
How can I use creativity for self-care?
There are lots of different ways to be creative, and not all of them have to be costly. You might want to print off some free colouring in sheets, or pick up a journal to do some daily sketches or writing. You can also look up tutorials for free online.
It’s easy to get frustrated with whether you’re ‘good’ at being creative or not. When it comes to self-care, the process is what’s important. Developing your skills and finding time for yourself and what you enjoy is a huge achievement, whether or not you end up with a finished project.
And one final note: self-care is not something that you only do when things become overwhelming. It’s important to have it as part of your everyday life to keep you feeling well when things get tough ❤️
What’s your favourite creative self-care activity?
Comments
I know I am little late but I love anything creative so I thought I would put in my two cents as well. I really enjoy colouring in with coloured pencils specifically. I have a colouring in book with different activities to colour which I have used quite often and I also have another one that's themed after vintage travelling and it has all these really nice destinations to colour but I haven't started it yet. 🎨
I also enjoy creative writing, like writing a fiction book which I have started with an idea but never really had the time to build on it 😭
I find that creativity activities makes me feel so much better after a bad day. Drawing, writing stories and making things have to be some of my favourites! 🌵
creativity after a bad day sounds like a good idea i need to do instead of doomscrolling hahhaa
what kind of things do you like to make? i like to make pendants out of polymer clay at the moment 🙂
I love this!!! I have so many creative outlets that I don't think I could choose a fav 😆 I really enjoy embroidery, writing short stories, pottery, bag making, book binding and more. I'm a bit of a hobby hopper as you can see 🙃. Though I find each and every one of them to be very relaxing and gives me time to chill out.
ooo i love the term hobby hopper!! i definitely am the same with you in that sense. at the moment i enjoy knitting and sculpting with polymer clay.
My favourite creative self-care activity definitely has to be doing digital art on my drawing tablet. I find it to be a therapeutic activity that lets me zone out from my worries for a little while. I think that it's especially enjoyable when I am surrounded by like-minded people during the creative process. Having that company makes it feel like i'm listening to a podcast when i'm drawing 😅
ohhh digital art is so cool! ive tried it so many times but i can never commit to anything and its so easy to just undo, unlike on paper when you manually have to erase something. what kind of digital art do you do? i've tried pixel art before which is fun 😄
I love this post! Something I've been reflecting on a lot recently is how important being creative is for my wellbeing! I've found a good indicator of whether I am starting to get a bit more stressed is if I am not engaging in my creative hobbies as much. This is a great reminder to do something creative today 😀
I've always loved just drawing random little things but my favourite creative self care will always be writing!
doodling is so fun!!! and i think i have to agree with you about writing being my favourite creative self care form. i like it because it gives me a chance to process what might be going on in my head subconsciously and brings forward things that I might have forgotten about initially. What do you like about writing?
Happy belated self-care day! I've honestly always been pretty bad at everything art-related but I've recently been into experimenting with makeup, specifically using different coloured eyeliners and adding small hearts/stars to my makeup to add a bit of 'spice' 🤗 It somehow makes me feel more confident!
wowow i wish i had the dexterity to do pretty eye makeup!! it takes a lot of talent to do eyeliner, especially when you add little icons. I haven't done colourful makeup in a while but you've inspired me to start again! what are your favourite products to use?
As someone who is absolutely horrible at drawing, writing poems I find to be a great creative practice!
i like writing poetry as well!! its definitely a creative practice and also can be really cathartic if you need to work through anything. What genre of poems do you like to write? I mainly write freeform to mimic my natural thought processes
I love coloured pencil drawing!! So relaxing - you can just completely zone out!
oh you're so right about this - its so satisfying to be able to colour something in passively then before you know it you've got something really pretty in front of you 😄
Hi! This post is really nice!
As a hobbyist artist myself, I can definitely confirm these benefits that creativity brings, especially the kinds that you make stuff with your own hands! Personally my favourite activity is taking my mind off and do a bunch of studies of the human figure or artworks to get into the zone.
One advice I'd like to share for anyone wanting to get into drawing/painting/playing an instrument/ anything creative but do not have any time is that any small amount of time doing something creative will work, whether it's 5 minutes or an hour! There's no pressure in needing to carving out a large portion of your time doing something creative, the main thing is actually consistency! 5 minutes every week doing simple sketches will go a long way in improving your skills and mental health as opposed to one 2-hour session that one time, especially for beginners.
Finally, while I know that once you start making something creative you're bound to compare yourselves to others and feel worse about your skills, focus on you and your progress only and instead use other people's works as inspirations! Changing from that depressive comparison spiral to one of inspiration and self-improvement is the key to having a better time ^^
thank you for this message, i often fall into that depressive comparison spiral instead of inspiration. since i like to jump from hobby to hobby i feel like i can never specialise in anything the way i see others doing - focussing on my own progress is such a unique way (for me) to look at a situation. thank you for your post 😄
Hi @Stormy-RO. I love this post!
I’ve never really considered myself to be the ‘creative type’, but I realise that is probably because I haven’t allowed myself the time to explore creative outlets. Seeing creativity used as a form of self-care in your post has motivated me to give a creative activity a go! I think I’ll try getting into some drawing and colouring to help me be more present and develop those creativity skills 🎨✏️ I also really like how you mentioned that it doesn’t necessarily matter whether you’re ‘good’ at being creative and that instead it’s the process that matters! I’ll try to remember this when I attempt a creative activity so that I don't put so much pressure on myself to get it perfect
Hey @adzukitty. I have this adult colouring-in book that I bought ages ago that I tried giving another go after I saw this post. I found it quite enjoyable to use after a long day but I have to admit I had forgotten about it again😅 I think it will just take some time for me to form a habit of using it as part of my self-care routine!
Are there any creative activities that you might try as well? It definitely can be a bit harder for those of us who consider ourselves as not very creative haha
Hey! Great post!
I don't have as much time to release my creative outlets recently due to being a full-time student (in my final year though, thank goodness!!)
I would love to get back into art, drawing, painting, animation, you name it.
I feel like I lost a lot of myself when I became too busy to include art into my schedule. I'd love to get the confidence to grab a pen and paper and start doodling again, regardless whether or not I'll "not be as good as before".
BUT YES, let us celebrate our creativity :))) Creativity for sure helps me and my mental health, and it could for others as well!
hi @strawberryshortcake04 full time uni in your final year must take up so much mental energy so i can def understand the build up of creative energy since you can't release it. i resonate with the concept of comparing myself to my past self in that i might not be as good as before. hope you can find a couple moments to unwind in this busy era ur in!!
Hello @Stormy-RO
Excellent post that you had made on self-care! I really like that you have presented another source of outlet for self care that can be used for our disposal especially when conventional self-care seems rather bland or difficult for some.
Personally I engage in a multitude of them such as the more conventional ones like light exercises and quiet alone time.
But one of the more creative self care methods would be to look back on the quotes that I had made of all the silly things that me and my friends had said in our conversations.
For context, I would record noteworthy or funny quotes that me and my friends would utter throughout the day, and this serves as a reminder or journal of sort for my day as well as a reminder of the fun moments we spent engaging in lectures, classes, conversation etc.
Not sure if that’s particularly creative but this is one of the more bizarre things I do for self cafe 😂
In any case, I love forward to looking into other people’s creative self-care tactics as well 🤩
thats so creative!! i like how unique and personal your reflection on memories is. writing down silly things that happen is so clever and i think i'll start doing it too. thank u for the idea~